So how does it look compared to the rest of the nation by Zillow’s math? The online housing tracker’s national databases can help add some perspective to the high price of local living.

As of November, for example, Orange County real estate by Zillow’s math — the No. 5 nationally in housing market size — has a median home value of $696,200, 13th highest in the 1,700-plus U.S. counties tracked. That’s after surging 44.7 percent in the last five years, the 212th ranked gain nationally.

Here’s how Zillow sees home values in Cypress as of November compared to some 13,000-plus other U.S. cities …

Market size: No. 1,082 nationally, or in the top 9 percent.

Price: $654,800 — a record high for Cypress and No. 491 nationally, or in the top 5 percent.

Jonathan Lansner has been the Orange County Register's business columnist since 1997 and has been part of the newspaper's coverage of the local business scene since 1986. He is a native New Yorker who is a past national president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Jon lives in Trabuco Canyon -- yes, a homeowner -- and when he's not fiddling with his "trusty spreadsheet" at work you can likely find him rooting for his beloved Anaheim Ducks or umpiring local lacrosse games.

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